India’s Mobile & Internet Revolution – This Is Just The Beginning!

We are certainly living in the most exciting era of technological progress and connectivity. At a time when 2.8 billion people are online (39%) and 5.2 billion people are on mobile (73%), the world has become a giant, globally connected village where all the information ever created is just a click away. Comparably, in 1995, only 0.6% of the population was online and only 1% of the population had access to a mobile.

Huge an explosion of technology and connectivity is mind blowing to say the least. But the question now arises: Have we reached a saturation point of this progress? Will there be no such exponential growth and adaption of technology and Internet?

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a Venture Capital fund located in the USA has come out with their annual Internet trends report compiled by Mary Meeker; and as per them, this is just the beginning. We have barely scratched the surface here!

Besides the consumer niche, where eCommerce portals and apps have penetrated deep into the global markets, there exists business niche, education market, security and safety niche, healthcare and Govt. policies and regulation where Internet and Mobile hasn’t been able to make much dent.

And as per the report, it is India which is going to be the catalyst of exponential growth and adaption in the coming years. In some sectors, India has overtaken China, Brazil and African countries when it comes to adaption and penetration of mobile and Internet; and as per the trends, India is now considered as one of the hottest market for the next wave of revolution.

In the last 3 years, the growth of Internet globally has slowed down; if it was 11% in 2012, then its 8% in 2014. But in India, this growth is hovering around 33%! We have beaten China which is stuck at 7%; USA is at 2% and Brazil is at 4%.

– Smartphone: India Beats China, USA and Brazil

Again, with 55% growth in 2014, we have overtaken China (21%); USA (9%) and Brazil (28%) when it comes to new smart phone users.

– 65% of all Internet traffic in India arrives from a mobile device; which makes us the most mobilized country in the whole world after Nigeria!

– As of now, only 15% of India’s population has access to smart phones. The report estimates that this 85% non-smartphone group is most probably using a feature phone, and their entry would be made via Messaging apps such as WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger.

– 41% of all eCommerce sales in India is coming from a mobile device, which makes us the most mobilized country for eCommerce in the whole world. Surprisingly, only 15% of eCommerce traffic in USA is originating from mobile.

– India’s share in the global GDP is now increasing, and very soon we will be competing against China and USA for world domination. At a time when the hold of USA and Europe is declining, India and China are poised to have more influence and more power. And the same would be reflected in the usage and business of technology as well.

– The report clearly states that if China is the #1 market in sheer size, then India is the #1 market in new user addition. Last year India added 63 million new Internet users, which is the highest in the world. With 232 million Internet users, we are World’s 3rd largest market with a growth rate of +37% YoY.

India is 2nd largest market for Facebook with 112 million users every month.

India is the largest market for WhatsApp with 70 million users every month.

With 70 million users, India comprises 7% of all Youtube subscribers base.

India is 2nd largest market for Linkedin with 24 million monthly users.

The report makes one thing crystal clear: It is the developing countries which will be responsible for taking the technology and mobile revolution even further; and India will be one of the most influential catalysts for the same.

Arun Prabhudesai is founder / chief editor at trak.in. He jumped the Entrepreneurship bandwagon in early 2008 after a long 13 year stint in I.T Industry. You can follow him on twitter @trakin and Facebook.Arun’s Google+ Profile